Browns' Ventrone says Ravens were "dirty"

The regular refs may have missed a few things in their first game back.

Browns safety Ray Ventrone said the Ravens were dirty birds.

“I know that they were playing dirty on offense,” Ventrone said Friday as Cleveland’s players regrouped after a 23-16 loss in Baltimore. “Watch the film, man. There was some dirty stuff going on.”

Thursday night’s prime-time game featured the return of the NFL’s regular officials after they reached agreement with the league on a new contract. Following three weeks of uneven officiating by the replacement refs, there were few, if any, problems as the Ravens beat the Browns for the ninth straight time.

However, Ventrone said the Ravens got away with some “extracurricular stuff.”

“There was just stuff that was happening after the play, during the play,” said Ventrone, the Browns’ special teams dynamo who is playing despite recently undergoing surgery on a badly broken thumb. “There was some unnecessary stuff that was happening to our defensive backs most specifically.”

It’s not unusual for the Browns and Ravens to play a hard-hitting game, given their shared history and rivalry inside the AFC North. Ventrone said there has been some questionable play in the past but not as much as in this meeting.

“I don’t want to get into specifics just ‘cause I don’t want to be the guy to stir the pot,” Ventrone said. “But I’m just saying I think they were doing a lot of extracurricular stuff.”

Ventrone said none of the Ravens’ aggressive and outside-the-rules actions resulted in any injuries to the Browns.

“No one was hurt by any of the stuff,” Ventrone said. “Thank God. But I think there were some cheap shots for sure.”